Lye

[Cactuslily]

To make a long story short. In the middle of making soap I got interrupted. When I came back, somehow I mixed two recipes...don't ask. I remixed my lye solution, but what do I do with the old? I read several different answers in archives, but mostly about lye crystals.dont really want to put it down my sink. Any suggestions?

 

[coffeetime]

What was the difference in the amounts of lye in the two recipes?

 

[Obsidian]

Run it down your drains with cold water, it is used for cleaning drains after all.

 

[Cactuslily]

TBH, I'm not entirely sure. I could have put in 4.4oz lye with 12.4 oz of water which is ok, but I am making batch a bit bigger, so I needed 4.9oz lye with 13.8oz water. I realized at end of measuring my oils and butters, that I was measuring for larger batch. So I added differance in oils and butters( presuming I added all the amounts for smaller batch. Bottom line...it all got very confusing. I'm unable to reweigh original amounts because I had oils all in one bowl and butters in another. Hopefully, any small differance won't be a huge problem. As I'm unsure of amounts used, I thought it better to remix my lye, even though differance was pretty small...what a waste. I'm so mad at myself. Shoukd I just dilute mix 20x and flush down sink? Would have no idea how to make soap out of it.

 

[cmzaha]

I am not even going to try to recommend since, sorry to say, to me the post is very confusing. This is a good reason to write down everything. You could weigh out you total oils and see what number you ended up with and how far off you are in your oils totals. Then re-weigh your butters maybe you can make a good guess and up the superfat to say 7% and change your total weight in soap calc, mix a new batch of lye.
A half oz difference in lye is not necessarily a small amount. It takes 0.5 oz lye to saponify 3 oz of coconut oil @ 5% superfat.
This is why you need to really be diligent in measuring out your oils.

 

[Cactuslily]

Lesson learned...thank you for helping. Yes, it was confusing. My sink however, is draining much better

 

[Susie]

You need to have only one recipe on the counter at the time. And get used to highlighting off what you add to any mixture.

I put a check on the sheet when I weigh each ingredient out, then highlight when I add it. That way, if I get interrupted, I know exactly where I am in the process. Learned this one the hard way.

 

[new12soap]

IF you know how much lye and how much water you used, you can store lye solution and save it for later. Most people that masterbatch use a 50/50 solution, but as long as you can safely contain and store it there is no need to throw it out. But it only works if you KNOW what you have.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would also have said to try to keep it - it was the right amount for one recipe, so could have been used easily enough.

 

[Cactuslily]

Thank you all for your help and tips. All ended up well in the end. Had I been a more experienced soaper, I would have saved my lye. I'm just getting used to formulating recipes, and running through soapcalc. I've been thinking of master batching my lye for various reasons. Just getting basics down now however, it seems a huge step to masterbatch. That being said, I love how every batch of soap I make, is a learning lesson. Not just in the mechanics of making soap, but more importantly for me, learning patience, learning to go with the flow, and to let go of the idea of perfection. I may start out thinking how I want my soap to look, but I cannot always control that. I love this process, and am so grateful for this community of people who so graciously give of their time and experience. Happy soaping